Joyous Wolf – Sleep Weep Stomp

I never thought a blues song would ever make me head-bang until I heard Joyous Wolf’s latest single, “Sleep Weep Stomp.” This song blends the blues with alternative rock, creating such an amazing song that causes any person that listens to it to feel the intense rage vocalist Nick Reese sings to life, along with the incredible, instrumental prowess of bass player Greg Braccio, guitarist Blake Allard, and Robert Sodaro on the drums.

When I first heard this song, the first thing I thought of was a break-up or a rejection, especially after the line, “Woman’s will is one man’s hell.” It numbers one man, but also never says if there’s more than one woman. Her will was to either leave or reject the man, which has put him in a state of misery, unable to carry on, ready to end it all. The feelings of heartbreak aren’t new to the music industry, but “Sleep Weep Stomp” only hints at this being a possibility, leaving the song’s meaning up to the listener’s interpretation.

One interesting part is how Joyous Wolf perpetuates the blues genre in this song, specifically in the four lines “Every single day I wanna die/I’ve got too little to live for/I don’t even really want to try/It’s all I’ve got so leave me, leave me to die.” At the end of each line, a guitar strum is played, much like many traditional blues songs. By blending the two genres together, the listeners receive a unique play on both types that makes Joyous Wolf a band worth looking into.